Today we were treated to two fabulous concerts in Chausy.  Our day started at School #1 where children from almost every class performed an amazing concert.  This picture is taken from the finale with all of the children on stage.

The entire program was in English, both the introductions and every song.  It began with one of the senior girls presenting a project she did outlining information about our city of Brockville as well as an overview of Canadian Aid for Chernobyl and the projects we have completed in the Chausy region.

Then many children performed for us including this boy who played and sang the Beatles “Yesterday”.

This group of Juniors sang “The Wheels on the Bus” complete with hand gestures.

A beautiful chorus of senior boys and girls.

Then the 3rd graders (9 year olds) performed amazing ballroom dancing.  It was amazing to see the precision of these young children.

Here is your cuteness bonus right in the middle of the blog today.  This is Pasha, he is the son of one of our interpreters, Alla. Both he and his Mom came to Brockville last summer as part of our “Relief from Radiation” program.

In 2015 we lost a very valuable member of our organization, Dr. David Campbell.

David headed up our agriculture program at the Chausy Orphanage and worked tirelessly to help provide these children with food and opportunities to learn and grow.  Today the orphanage held a celebration of “Dr David’s” life with songs, pictures and stories and then we went outside where a park on the orphanage grounds, that David enjoyed spending time in, was dedicated in his name.

A plaque was unveiled and flowers presented to his wife Margaret, who is also an officer of our organization and an ongoing supporter and fund raiser.

Afterwards we returned to orphanage gym where we enjoyed another concert.  It is amazing how talented these children are and the amount of work that they and their teacher, Veronika, put in to make these shows enjoyable.  Here are a few pictures of the many acts that performed.

The girl below is Alecia who was in Brockville last summer.

Here you can see Veronika on the left at the controls of some of the music equipment that we have provided over the years.

Three years ago we brought guitars, drums and keyboards.  Here are 3 of the students playing them along with their instrumental teacher and another teacher, singing.

The orphanage has a sports training program as well and we were introduced to the children who had won awards over the past year.  Then they called Dave Shaw up and put him on the podium to present him with an award for all of the work Canadian Aid for Chernobyl has provided over the years.

After the concert the children were all given copies of this years yearbook.  This is a real international collaboration.  The children at the orphanage take the pictures and send them to Canada where Chantal Seguin and her students at Smiths Falls District High School assemble the yearbook and then it is printed in Brockville by Photovisions.

Here you can see the children getting their first look at the finished product.

This is a really big hit with the kids and we spent the next hour or so signing the kids yearbooks and handing out treats.

What a spectacular day and we are just getting ramped up, the next 4 days are going to be extremely busy … check back tomorrow!

Eric McKenzie